At around 1:30 pm Israel time today (August 3), an exchange of fire took place between Israeli and Lebanese forces along the border. (This map reflects the exact location of the incident.) According to Lebanese sources, the Israelis had gone over the fence and were cutting down a tree growing on Lebanese soil. Lebanese soldiers allegedly fired warning shots in the air and then at the soldiers.

Michel Suleiman, the Lebanese president, issued his own statement denouncing the clash as a violation of UN Resolution 1701 and calling on the Lebanese army to “confront any Israeli aggression, whatever the sacrifices.”

Israeli military sources assert that the work they were doing was routine; that UNIFIL was warned; and that in that place (and many other ones) the fence was deliberately placed inside of Israeli territory so that work on the other side can be conducted without trespassing into Lebanese territory.

Honest Reporting, “Special Alert: Media Collusion in Lebanon Ambush,” asks about the role of media, not merely Hizbullah journalists, but Reuters and AFP photographers, conveniently there to catch an incident that arose from routine pruning along the border.

Diplomatic officials blamed this part of the incident on UNIFIL’s Indonesian contingent and said they were concerned.
One diplomatic source was worried about “Indonesia sympathies with the other side.”

They were effectively acting as human shields for fighter with RPGs attacking Israeli soldier workers as one can see in the images.

In Germany the state television ARD did not loose a word about that incident in its major news show yesterday late evening. Don’t expect an outcry from Germany about Lebanon/Hezbollah attacking Israel not to speak of a parliament resolution like the resolution they issued in the case of the flotilla incident.